Chapter 7 - The Enemy Inside the Mansion
Lorenzo moved in front of me.
Reed raised his hands.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone."
"That's becoming a very unpopular sentence," Lorenzo said.
I wanted Lily.
Nothing else mattered.
"Tell me she's okay."
Reed looked at me.
"She's healthy."
"Then why is she here?"
"Because I saved her."
I stared at him.
Reed admitted falsifying Lily's death record.
But not for Victor.
After Eric's attack, Lily had been born in distress.
Reed learned Victor's people were monitoring my hospital record because they believed Sofia had left evidence connected to me.
If Lily remained officially alive, Victor could use her to control me.
So Reed made a decision.
He declared her dead on paper and moved her under another identity.
"You let me believe I'd buried my daughter."
His eyes lowered.
"Yes."
"You watched me grieve."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
Again those words.
Everyone who hurt me seemed to believe knowing they'd hurt me was somehow the same as understanding it.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Victor was watching you."
"You could have found another way."
"I should have."
That answer surprised me.
No excuse.
No justification.
Just failure.
Reed handed me documentation proving Lily's identity.
Then he told Lorenzo about Sofia.
Sofia's death had been a genuine medical complication.
But Victor exploited it.
He had already begun manipulating Leo's care within days.
Reed suspected something but couldn't prove it.
Margaret eventually contacted him.
Together they tried to gather evidence.
"Why access Elena's file yesterday?" Lorenzo asked.
"Because Margaret told me Victor knew Lily was alive."
That meant Lily had to be moved again.
Immediately.
I finally entered the room.
The world disappeared.
Lily was smaller than I'd imagined.
I touched her cheek.
Her eyes opened.
I had dreamed about this moment so many times that reality felt impossible.
"Hi."
My voice broke.
"I'm your mom."
Her fingers closed around mine.
I bent over the crib and cried.
For the first time since that staircase, my tears didn't feel like something being taken from me.
They felt like something returning.
But our danger wasn't over.
Victor was in custody.
His network wasn't.
Someone inside the Rossi estate had continued tampering with Leo's care even when Victor wasn't physically present.
Someone had locked the nursery.
Someone had disabled the cameras.
And according to security logs, that person still worked there.
We returned to the mansion with Lily under police protection.
Lorenzo refused to let Leo out of his sight.
I understood.
The mansion that had once seemed enormous now felt like a trap.
Isabella examined the security system.
The deletion had required administrator credentials.
Only four people possessed them.
Lorenzo.
Victor.
The security chief.
And Lorenzo's longtime estate manager, Adrian Cole.
Adrian had worked for the family for twenty-two years.
He had helped raise Lorenzo after his mother died.
When questioned, Adrian seemed offended.
Then Isabella found a hidden backup server.
It contained the missing footage.
We watched.
At 2:13 A.M., Margaret entered the nursery.
At 2:41, another person entered.
Adrian.
He remained inside four minutes.
He left carrying something.
At 2:47, I entered.
At 2:52, Lorenzo arrived.
At 2:53, Adrian returned to the hallway.
He locked the door.
Then leaned close and whispered my name.
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
"Why?"
Adrian wasn't in his apartment.
He wasn't anywhere on the property.
Then the nursery alarm sounded.
We ran upstairs.
Leo was safe.
But his crib had been moved.
Underneath it, carved into the wooden floor, was a symbol.
Isabella recognized it.
Victor's old accounting mark.
Beside it were coordinates.
We entered them into a map.
They pointed to a storage facility near the river.
Police searched it.
Inside were financial records, medical supplies and boxes of documents.
One box contained photographs of every member of Lorenzo's household.
Including me.
Including Lily.
Including Leo.
On the back of Leo's photograph was written:
LAST HEIR.
On Lily's:
LEVERAGE.
And on mine:
REPLACEMENT.
I stared at the word.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody knew.
Then Isabella found an envelope.
It was addressed to Lorenzo.
Inside was a letter from Sofia.
If you're reading this, I failed.
Lorenzo stopped.
His hands shook.
The letter explained everything Sofia had discovered.
Victor's fraud.
The hidden accounts.
The false medical transfers.
But the final paragraph was different.
There is one person Victor fears because he knows where everything is buried. He will pretend to protect you. He has been beside you since you were a boy.
Lorenzo looked up.
"Adrian."
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Adrian's voice filled the room.
"You finally figured it out."
"Where are you?"
"Closer than you think."
Lorenzo turned.
Then Adrian said:
"You should check on your son."
We ran upstairs.
The nursery was empty.
Leo was gone.
On the mattress lay a single photograph.
It showed Adrian holding Leo.
Behind him was a familiar yellow curtain.
My apartment.
May you like
And beneath the photograph were four words:
BRING ELENA. NO POLICE.
